Slice Of Thai With Its Spicy Peanut Sauce, Thai Pizza Has Become The Favorite Of The New Gourmet Pies

Pizza used to mean just this: a chewy crust topped with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Period. The end. Finito.

If you wanted to get fancy, you threw on some pepperoni.

Then along came Wolfgang Puck (of Spago fame), who gave the pizza pie a global spin. Puck and other creative California chefs are credited with loading pizzas with offbeat toppings like Peking duck, tandoori chicken and moo shu pork.

Around here, one of the most visible incarnations of the cross-cultural designer pizza movement is the Thai pie.

At several Spokane area restaurants, Thai pizza outsells all others.

“It’s our number one seller,” said Jim Rhoades, owner of Rock City. “People are thoroughly addicted to it.”

While each eatery closely guards its “secret” recipe, the basic Thai pizza is built on a thin crust covered with a slightly spicy peanut sauce instead of the traditional marinara. Toppings can include pieces of chicken or shrimp, chopped peanuts and cilantro, along with other vegetables.

At Tomato Street, the kitchen adds crunch with julienned carrots, snow peas and bean sprouts. Not only do the veggies look nice on the pizza, they act as a cooling agent for the chunks of chicken that are marinated in a mixture of hot Thai chilies and coconut milk.

“Most people think of Thai food as really hot, but we wanted people to be able to eat the pizza, not to make it so hot that it burned them,” said Tomato Street’s Dean Haines.

After many experiments, the kitchen crew finally found a formula that wasn’t too hot but was still slightly spicy.

However, at Capone’s Sports Pub in Coeur d’Alene, they turn up the the heat.

“Our Thai pizza is not for the weak-hearted,” Tom Capone said of the recipe he created with his wife, Teresa.

They marinate chicken breast in Thai spices. Then, instead of baking it, the Capones saute the chicken to intensify the flavors.

Their peanut sauce base also packs some sizzle. “We tried to put our own mark on it,” Tom Capone said.

At Rock City, the slightly sweet peanut sauce is actually a takeoff of a salad dressing owner Rhoades developed while working at another restaurant. The dressing didn’t sell, but the mixture worked wonders on a crispy crust.

“I liked the flavors in the dressing so well, I kept trying to find something it would work with,” Rhoades said.

He obviously hit pay dirt with the pizza.

“There are people who come in and don’t even look at their menu. That’s all they ever order,” he said.

While area restaurateurs were reluctant to turn over their recipes, the popular California Pizza Kitchen chain recently published “The California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook” (Macmillan), which includes this recipe for Thai chicken pizza.

Thai Chicken Pizza

Spicy Peanut Sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup hoisin sauce (available in the Asian section of larger supermarkets)

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

2 teaspoons minced ginger root

2 tablespoons roasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon Vietnamese chili sauce or dried chili flakes

1 tablespoon oyster sauce (available in the Asian section of larger supermarkets)

2 tablespoons water

Thai Chicken:

10 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pizza:

1 recipe Basic Pizza Dough (recipe below)

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 tablespoons chopped roasted peanuts

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

4 green onions, diagonally sliced

1/2 cup white bean sprouts

1/4 cup shredded carrot

To make Spicy Peanut Sauce, heat peanut butter, hoisin, honey, vinegar, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, chili sauce, oyster sauce and water in small pan over medium heat. Bring sauce to boil and boil gently 1 minute. Divide into 2 portions for use on chicken and pizza. Set aside.

To make Thai Chicken, cook chicken in skillet in olive oil over medium-high heat, stirring, until just cooked, 5 to 6 minutes. Do not overcook. Set aside in refrigerator until chilled through, about 30 minutes. Once chilled, coat chicken with half of Spicy Peanut Sauce. Set aside in refrigerator.

To make pizza, place pizza stone in center of oven and preheat to 500 degrees 1 hour before baking pizzas.

Use large spoon to spread half (1/4 cup) of reserved Spicy Peanut Sauce evenly over surface of 1 pizza dough circle. Cover sauce with 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese. Distribute half of chicken pieces evenly over cheese followed by additional 1/4 cup mozzarella. Top with half of peanuts.

Transfer pizza to oven. Bake until crust is crisp and golden and cheese at center is bubbly, 9 to 10 minutes. When cooked through, carefully remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle half of chopped fresh cilantro, half of green onions, half of bean sprouts and half of carrots over hot, cheesy surface. Slice and serve. Repeat with remaining ingredients for second pizza.

Yield: 2 (9-inch) pizzas.

Basic Pizza Dough

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water (105 degrees to 110 degrees)

1-1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus 1 teaspoon for coating

Cornmeal, for dusting the paddle

Dissolve yeast in water and set aside 5 to 10 minutes. (Be sure that water is not too hot. Temperatures of 120 degrees and above will kill yeast and dough will not rise.)

To mix by hand, place flour, sugar and salt in 4- to 6-quart mixing bowl. Make well in center and pour in yeast mixture and 2 teaspoons oil (reserve 1 teaspoon olive oil). Use wooden spoon to combine ingredients. Once initial mixing is done, lightly oil hands and begin kneading dough, about 5 minutes. When done, dough should be slightly tacky (barely beyond sticking to your hands). Form into ball.

Lightly oil dough ball and interior of 1-quart glass bowl. Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap to seal airtight. Set aside at room temperature (70 to 80 degrees) to rise until doubled in bulk, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. (Dough could be used at this point, but it will not be the wonderful, chewy, flavorful dough that it will become later.)

Punch down dough. Re-form into round ball and return to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap again and refrigerate overnight.

About 2 hours before ready to assemble pizza, remove dough from refrigerator. Use sharp knife to divide dough into 2 equal portions. Roll each portion into round ball on smooth, clean surface (be sure to seal any holes by pinching or rolling). Place balls in glass casserole dish, spaced far enough apart to allow for each to double in size. Seal top of dish airtight with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature until doubled in size, smooth and puffy, about 2 hours.

Sprinkle medium dusting of flour over a clean, smooth surface, 12 inches square. Use metal spatula or dough scraper to carefully remove dough balls from glass casserole dish, being very careful to preserve their round shape. Flour dough liberally and place on floured smooth surface. Use a rolling pin to form 9-inch circular pizza.

To dress pizza, lightly sprinkle cornmeal over surface of wooden pizza peel. Arrange stretched dough over floured peel surface. Add sauce and toppings, working quickly so the dough won’t become soggy or sticky.

Transfer pizza from the paddle to pizza stone in preheated oven and bake as directed.

Yield: 2 (9-inch) pizza crusts.

Spicy Thai Pizza

This vegetarian version from the USA Rice Council is built on a nutty-tasting brown rice crust.

3 cups cooked brown rice

2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided

1 cup crunchy peanut butter, divided

1 egg, beaten

Vegetable cooking spray

1/2 cup hot water

1/4 cup cilantro

3 tablespoons dark sesame oil

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

2 cups broccoli flowerets

1 medium red onion, chopped

2 large carrots, julienned

Combine rice, 1 cup cheese, 1/4 cup peanut butter and egg in a large bowl. Press firmly into 12-inch pizza pan or 10-inch pie pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.

Mix remaining 3/4 cup peanut butter, water, cilantro, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil and red pepper in a small bowl; set aside.

Stir-fry broccoli, onion and carrots in remaining 1 tablespoon dark sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until tender-crisp, approximately 3 minutes.

To assemble, spread sauce over crust; top with vegetable mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of cheese. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo